Caulk, adhesive, potting material and other fluid material systems are commonly contained in tubular cartridges of the type having an outlet nozzle at one end and an opposite open end that is closed by a wiper slidably seated against the inside face of the cartridge wall. The material is discharged from the outlet nozzle by advancing the wiper through the cartridge toward the nozzle. Available dispensing tools utilize a plunger connected to a rod, and a power device that forces the rod and plunger axially into the open cartridge end and against the wiper. Many dispensing tools are hand held and portable, where the power device is a ratchet mechanism indexed incrementally upon manual trigger squeezes. Further, a dispensing tool for providing larger capacity or higher pressures of material delivery might be actuated by an air cylinder powered upon shifting a trigger activated open-close valve.
Single component fluid material systems use only one cartridge, the material being discharged therefrom via an elongated dispensing tube having the outlet nozzle at its downstream end. Multiple component fluid material systems use different cartridges from which the separate components forming the material are simultaneously discharged in the precise ratio needed to form the intended composite material, the discharged components being blended together in an elongated mixing/dispensing tube before being discharged as the composite material from the outlet end of the dispensing tube. The different individual components are stable only when maintained separated, but begin to set when blended together and harden to the intended composite material in setting times measured between possibly only a few seconds and several hours (depending on the composite material).
Common multiple component materials include two-part epoxies, urethanes, silicones, phenolics, acrylics and polyesters. Component fluid systems have been successfully used for filling surface cracks in concrete structures to restore structural integrity.
Special conduit routing structures can be fitted over the outlet end of the dispensing tube for more accurately directing the discharged material to the intended region of use. One such routing structure is a tubular surface port device, which has an outlet end with an enlarged base that can be bonded by adhesive to the structural surface with the tube bore aligned over a surface crack. The material dispensing tube is then seated against the inlet tube bore end to funnel the discharged material directly into the underlying crack.
Our U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,354 discloses a port device having great universality to operate effectively with many different types and sizes of dispensing tubes and outlet nozzles used in dispensing fluid material(s) from tubular cartridge(s), while maintaining a leakproof seated fit between the dispensing tube outlet nozzle and port device inlet, and possibly even without the need for physically holding these seated components together with any significant force. The port device tube has its inlet end stepped at adjacent axially extended inner land areas of progressively smaller diameters in the direction toward the outlet end, these land areas being sized so that at least one would snuggly receive at least one of the outer land areas provided on the different dispensing nozzles and/or tubes. These components when telescoped together establish the substantially leakproof and mechanically constrained connection for conveying the dispensed material. The flat base at the outlet end of the port device had side edges that could be flexed out of the flat, to position the device more closely adjacent an interior structural corner for directing material quite accurately into the corner.
Our copending application Ser. No. 08/503,836 discloses a port device specifically suited to discharge fluid material relative to a crack at a structural corner, either into an exterior corner or onto an exterior corner, with minimum material leaking beyond any underlying crack. Also, this port device can be fitted into a drilled hole or the structural crack itself and then manually secured and sealed relative thereto, suited for dispensing material under high pressure while yet withstanding blow-out from the structure. The application further shows accessory fittings for allowing universality of use of the port device, by establishing operative connections between the material dispensing tube and port device via flexible hoses of virtually any needed length, for dispensing fluid material into cracks spaced at variable distances and orientations from the dispensing tube and eliminating the need for the user to hold the dispensing tool close to and connected to the port device.